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The Berrybender Narratives

Sin Killer Publisher's Summary

It is 1830, and the Berrybender family - rich, aristocratic, English, and fiercely out of place - is on its way up the Missouri River to see the American West as it begins to open up.

Lord and Lady Berrybender have abandoned their palatial home in England to explore the frontier and to broaden the horizons of their children, who include Tasmin, a budding young woman of grit, beauty, and determination, her vivacious and difficult sister, and her brother.

As they journey by rough stages up the Missouri River, they meet with all the dangers, difficulties, temptations, and awesome natural scenery of the untamed West.

At the very core of the story is Tasmin's fast-developing relationship with Jim Snow, frontiersman, ferocious Indian fighter, and part-time preacher. Known up and down the Missouri as "the Sin Killer," he's the handsome, silent Westerner who eventually captures her heart.

Against the immense backdrop of the American West, Larry McMurtry tracks this engaging family as they make their way up the great river, surviving attacks, discomfort, savage weather, and natural disaster. Sin Killer is an adventure story full of incident, and suspense, as well as a charming love story between a headstrong and aristocratic young Englishwoman and the stubborn, shy, and very American Jim Snow. As big as the West itself, this is the kind of story that only Larry McMurtry can write.

Book 1

Sin Killer

Volume 1 of The Berrybender Narratives

By:
Larry McMurtry

Narrated by:
Alfred Molina

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
448

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
269

Story

4 out of 5 stars
265

Against the immense backdrop of the American West, Larry McMurtry tracks the Berrybender's as they make their way up the great river, surviving attacks, discomfort, savage weather, and natural disaster.
Sin Killer is an adventure story as big as the West itself, full of incident, and suspense, as well as a charming love story between a headstrong and aristocratic young Englishwoman and the stubborn, shy, and very American Jim Snow.

Larry McMurtry continues the story of Tasmin Berrybender and her family in the Wild West of the 1830s. This is the point in time when mountain men and trappers like Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, though still alive, are already legendary figures, and when the clash between the Indian tribes and the encroaching white Americans is about to turn into tragedy.

At the heart of this third volume of his Western saga remains the beautiful and determined Tasmin Berrybender, now married to the "Sin Killer" and mother to their young son, Monty. Although Tasmin intends Montyto be an English gentleman like his grandfather, he lives the childhood of a savage.

In the final volume of
The Berrybender Narratives, Tasmin and her family are under arrest in Mexican Santa Fe. Tasmin, who would once have followed her husband anywhere, is no longer even sure she likes him, or where to go next. Captain Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame, is puzzled by the great changes sweeping over the West, replacing red men and buffalo with towns and farms.